The Sincerest Form of Flattery
by ohmytheon
Summary: When Riza asks her three year-old son what he wants to be for Halloween, she is caught of guard by his answer.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Notes:** Welcome to my hell. I didn't mean to start this huge on-off series about Riza and Roy's son that I created, but it keeps happening and I've given up on stopping myself. For once though, someone actually asked me to write this. The prompt was Riza and Aidan + "Boo" and I was so happy to write this, even if I made myself sad in the process. Timeline-wise, this is set some months before Drabble 100 ("Until that Day") in my 100 Royai Drabble series, "you pull me through time," and a little over a year before my three-chapter fic, "i would part the sea".

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own anything except for my OC and even that's probably stretching things. The Havolina kids belong to **stupidsexymustang**.

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 **The Sincerest Form of Flattery**

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Unbeknownst to most people outside of her inner circle, Riza had always secretly enjoyed baking. She'd done it from an early age, mostly making pies or cookies. Roy had accused her of trying to make him fat when he'd been her father's alchemy apprentice, but that hadn't stopped him from eating batches of baked goods. As a teenage boy, he had been capable of eating a lot of cookies. Even now, she continued the habit, though not nearly as much. She'd bring in cookies for Roy whenever he was in the hospital, which was too much for her taste, and to the office whenever it was one of her teammate's birthdays. Rebecca had somehow managed to rope Riza into making her birthday cake every year since they'd roomed together at the Academy. Her best friend had a horrible sweet tooth

These days, baking had taken on another level, one that she couldn't deny made her happy. She liked domestic life outside of the military, though very few would expect that considering her focused and strict demeanor at work. Anyone that visited her apartment would've been shocked, her teammates included. She still remembered how confused Edward had been the first time he'd come to her apartment; for a moment, it had looked like he was about to accuse her of not being the real Riza Hawkeye. She wasn't the best of decorators, but she liked to keep things light and there was plenty of natural sunlight.

Today, the smell of cookies in the air. No pre-made store-bought cookies for her. She always made them from scratch, not even needing a recipe anymore. There was something about it that helped her feel better, like she had control, but also things were up in the air. Sometimes even a tried and true recipe that she knew by heart could turn out unpredictably. The cookies had an even higher chance of doing that now that she had a little helper giving her input every now and then on what else should be added to the cookies. Speaking of which…

Riza was just about to call out when she felt something bump into the back of her legs and shout, "Boo!" Upon looking down, she found a white blob standing next to her, or more specifically, someone in a white sheet. Black Hayate sat to the side, panting and lolling his tongue out, looking quite accomplished at having followed the white sheet around and making sure it didn't hurt itself.

"Oh, what's this?"

"Look, Mommy; I'm a ghost!" Aidan proclaimed.

At three years-old, her son already had a wild imagination. He liked to tell stories - though he surprisingly lied very little - and played pretend often. Whenever he played with his toys, he always came up with personalities for them and created plays for her to watch. He always colored in the lines in his coloring books, but not with the typical colors. Clouds would be pink, birds green, trees blue, anything he could think up. Even his favorite stuffed animals, a tiger that Roy had given him upon his birth and an alligator, had separate, distinct personalities already and he liked to talk to them as if they responded back.

Aidan was very obviously Roy's son in her mind.

With Halloween coming up, he had taken on a new level of imagining things. He wanted to dress up whenever he went to daycare. Well, there was nothing wrong with being a cowboy at daycare and Riza had actually ignored the disapproving letter one woman had sent back with Aidan a few days before. Roy got a huge kick out of the fact that Riza was acting "rebelliously," but honestly if her son wanted to dress up like a puppy or a ballerina, she didn't care and would support him in his imagination no matter what.

"Well, if you're a ghost, shouldn't you be invisible?" Riza asked curiously. That was one of the new words that he'd recently learned upon listening to shows about ghosts and other spooky things. Yet again another sign that he was very much Roy's child.

"Not all the time, Mommy," Aidan pointed out as he threw the sheet off the top of his head. "Then people wouldn't see the ghosts and know they're real!"

Riza laughed. "You got me." She picked him up, the sheet long enough to touch the floor even as she held him, and nuzzled noses with him. He giggled in response. She would miss the days when he was too small to do things like this. It made her wish that Roy could be here as well; she knew how much he hated the fact that he couldn't be here all the time and missed so much of these precious moments in Aidan's life. "How did you get so smart?"

"From you," Aidan said, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

 _No, from your father,_ Riza thought as a small, regretful smile appeared on her face.

Although more in tune with emotions more than most children his age, especially hers, Aidan was focused on the task at hand - or rather, the raw cookie dough before him. "Lots of chocolate?" She nodded her head. He loved chocolate and wanted double of it in every sweet he got. After Roy got him hooked on double chocolate ice cream, that had been the end of that story. "Can I eat it?"

"Not yet," Riza told him. Roy would let him eat the cookie dough raw, if only because he'd do the same. "They have to be baked first, so you don't get sick."

"Mustang says that's a lie and you're just a worry-wart," Aidan told her.

"Does he now," Riza murmured thoughtfully. She was going to have to talk with Roy about that.

It surprisingly didn't sting as much to hear her son refer to his father as "Mustang," not when they'd taught him to do that from an early age, but it still made her stomach sink a little. He did it with such ease now, not even hesitating most of the time. She worried that he forgot that Roy was actually his father - and then was forced to wonder if that was such a bad thing. It would make things easier for now. He'd never asked why he couldn't call Roy "dad" anymore, which had shocked Roy terribly, but she knew what kind of metal her son was made of. He was hers, he came from her, and somehow he'd absorbed her ability to bear hardships very quickly. He didn't ask because she told him; he trusted her completely.

"Let's get these in the oven, so we can eat them after dinner," Riza said as she set him back down.

"But dinner is so far away!" Aidan exclaimed, sounding very distressed.

Riza put a hand on her hip. "And when do we eat sweets?"

Aidan sighed, but nodded his head. "After we eat our veggies."

She very much counted herself lucky to have had such an understanding child and one that seemed to love vegetables almost just as much as he did sweets. Rebecca was still mind-boggled whenever they would go out to eat together and Aidan would happily eat his broccoli while her son Bran fought back with her. Then again, Bran had inherited Rebecca's sweet tooth, so really, she should've expected it. Her daughter Ally wouldn't even touch the foods unless Havoc was the one to feed her. Riza got lucky.

After putting the cookies in the oven to bake, Riza followed Aidan and Black Hayate into the living room. She cringed whenever he almost stepped on the white bedsheet trailing after him, but he finally dropped it in order to climb on the window sill to look out the window at the park. With autumn in full gusto, the leaves had turned orange and were falling everywhere. This was her favorite time of the year. She loved the colors and the cool breeze. It was Aidan's too; every day she picked him up from daycare, he would present her with a new changed leaf that he'd found.

"Speaking of dress up, Halloween is in a few days," Riza said as she sat down on the couch. It had felt strange at first to have Black Hayate not follow her whenever she sat down, but the dog dutifully followed Aidan everywhere, like he was the boy's personal guardian. "Have you decided what you want to be?"

Aidan slowly lowered himself down from the window. Riza immediately detected a hint of nervousness in her son's body language, how hesitant he suddenly seemed. Around Riza, Aidan was typically very open and didn't hide things from her, but she'd begun to notice the way he closed himself off every now and then, even to her. It usually happened after he saw Roy. Deep down, she knew that he had not forgotten who Roy was, not when she saw the way he'd light up whenever Roy came by or when he went to the office with her. She'd watch as he'd struggle with himself to not run towards Roy, the same internal struggle that Roy had in return. He was acting the same way now.

"I want to be an alchemist," Aidan mumbled as he turned around to face her. He didn't look at her though, instead keeping his eyes trained on his dangling feet.

Riza thought she might stop breathing altogether. She knew what he meant - that he wanted to dress up as an alchemist, as non-descript as that might be - but she felt like it was something else, something more. Aidan was a very precocious child. He liked to learn and was already working on his words and reading. Although he never asked her for a story whenever he woke up in the middle of the night and crawled into bed with her, she knew that Roy always indulged him and did so on the rare occasion that he stayed the night.

One day, Aidan would want to do more than dress up as an alchemist for Halloween. She knew that in her heart.

"Oh? Any specific alchemist?" Riza was proud that her voice was so level and light. She didn't know how Roy would react to this news. Excited, pleased - and very wary as well. They both knew the dangers that alchemy provided. The State Alchemist program was still in effect as well. Roy had been relieved that Aidan wasn't afraid of his alchemy and was probably the one of the few three year-olds that could pronounce and spell the word properly.

Aidan huffed and folded his arms across his chest. "Connor is already going to be the Fullmetal Alchemist and he says that no one can dress up as him if he is." Riza smiled to herself. Edward had been terribly smug and rubbed it in Roy's face when he'd found out that kids actually dressed up as him for Halloween. A few kids even dressed up as Alphonse back in his armor suit days, except their costumes were typically made out of cardboard. "I told him that was fine since I know Uncle Ed and he doesn't."

Riza chuckled a little. Some people might have thought that Aidan had gained the ability to snappily retort from his father, but Roy assured her that it was all from her. She'd put him in his place on many occasions throughout the years that they'd worked together.

"The Strong-Arm Alchemist?"

"Too big. I don't have muscles and I'm short!" Aidan patted his head, which was topped with the black mop of hair that he'd most definitely inherited from his father. "And I've got lots of hair."

Before even asking him, she'd had a feeling where he was going with this. In his mind, Aidan didn't want to dress up like Armstrong or even Edward because he didn't look anything like them, even if Roy joked every now and then that Aidan was the same height as Edward when he'd been Roy's subordinate. No, there was only one famous State Alchemist that her son would want to dress up as. He was just afraid to say it out loud.

Biting his lip, Aidan looked at her somewhat pleadingly. "I want to be the Flame Alchemist."

Riza's eyes softened. "Oh, Aidan…"

"He's just as famous as Uncle Ed and Uncle Alphonse!" Aidan burst out, a lot more upset than she'd anticipated. He bottled his emotions and kept them under lock as bad as she did. "Sometimes at daycare, we pretend that we're alchemists and Lincoln always gets to be the Flame Alchemist, but I should be him!"

Leaving her spot from the couch, Riza kneeled down in front of her son, placing her hands on his knees. That stilled his swinging feet. He looked at her with those dark eyes of his, so full of determination and need. Roy would talk about how closed off Aidan could be with him, how he couldn't read the little boy at times, but with Riza, Aidan was as open as could be. He'd learned just how to look at her to get what he wanted; he'd learned it, no doubt, from watching Roy. She'd learned to say no to Roy, but she'd suddenly found it very difficult with Aidan.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Riza told him, unsure of what else to say. Roy would be ecstatic. He wouldn't think of what it would look like, only that his son admired him.

"Why not?" Aidan sounded so hurt. It almost made her wince. Before she could think of anything to say to explain such a complex situation, he quietly asked, "Does it have to do with the fact that he can't be my dad?"

Riza put a hand to her mouth and then reached out to smooth his hair down. "Oh, Aidan, no, it's not like that - he's not–" But of course to a three year-old, that was what it did look like. It wasn't that his father wasn't around; it was that his father couldn't be around, at least not all the time. He couldn't do the same things that other dads did. She still remembered the way Aidan forlornly played with his toy cars on Father's Day after he'd come home from daycare. He hadn't even asked her why Roy hadn't come to visit him like all the other dads. "He's your father. He loves you. Things are just…complicated."

Aidan was only three though. How could she possibly explain to him why Roy wasn't here more often than not? How could she tell him that she and his father couldn't be together, not truly, until certain things happened? How could she tell him that his mere existence was technically against the law? They had promises they needed to fulfill, but she couldn't help but feeling like that was just an excuse now. Were they really doing the greater good when one little boy suffered the consequences?

Pulling him into a hug, Riza wrapped her arms around him and Aidan clung to her. One of the boys at his daycare called him a mama's boy, but it hadn't phased him in the slightest. It had confused him instead. Of course he was. She was his rock, his constant, his mom. One mother had commented that it wasn't healthy how close Aidan was to her or how quiet and reserved he was while another mother had wished that her rowdy four year-old would take notes. Riza knew that she was lucky with Aidan. She worried all the time that he would be angry and resent her for being alone or believe that she was the one keeping his dad away, but he never acted like it.

"How about this?" Riza said as she pulled away. "You can dress up like a soldier when we go trick-or-treating."

"A General?" Aidan asked hopefully.

"Well, that's only proper for a young man of your calibre," Riza responded as she brushed off one of his shoulders like she often did Roy. He let out a giggle and brushed off his other shoulder to mimic her. "But you can keep the white gloves in your pocket. That's what the Flame Alchemist does, after all. He doesn't wear them all the time."

Aidan nodded his head thoughtfully. "True."

"But when we go over to Aunt Rebecca's and Uncle Jean's for the Halloween party after, you can wear the gloves."

"For real?" Aidan asked exactly.

When she nodded her head, the lopsided grin that appeared on his face both made Riza's day and broke her heart. How terribly like Roy. There was no way that they were going to be able to go through this charade for much longer. Any day now, the truth about their insubordination and breaking of the fraternization laws was going to come out and it was going to damage everyone in its path. But for now, she didn't care. She refused to care. Not when a simple thing such as thing made her son light up.

They couldn't do the same things other families did, but she'd be damned if she took away her son's ability to dress up like the man he looked up to, his father.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Notes:** I've been planning on writing this second part for a solid few months, but I promised someone that I would get it out either last night or today, so here it is. FINALLY. The Havolina kids and their costumes belong to **stupidsexymustang**.

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The night went exceedingly well, all things considered. A soldier was a fairly common Halloween costume, especially in Central, so it wasn't difficult for Riza to find one that fit Aidan. They did have to get a smaller size than expected, something that made her frown a little. He was small for his age, though the clerk assured her that the costumes just ran big. He had been ecstatic when he finally got to put it on at home, going so far as sleeping in it that first night, but he did not wear it again until Halloween.

Riza swore that, when she was old and her memory began to fail her, she would always remember the way Aidan's dark eyes light up when she presented the white gloves with red stitching on the back. His Flame Alchemist gloves to complete the costume. He clung to them tightly, pressing them against his chest, holding them in his lap when they got into the car. The gloves were a different material and it wasn't the exact symbol, of course, but close enough that people would recognize it upon first glance. Aidan even went so far as to point out the differences, which surprised her, to be honest. She hadn't known that he'd paid such close attention to Roy's gloves.

Then again, she should've known better. Aidan had a habit of always tugging on her jacket whenever they were around Roy so that he could point out whenever Roy was wearing his ignition gloves. He noted the difference every time, though he didn't exactly know why.

When she parked the car at Rebecca's house, Riza had been concerned that Aidan would get upset over what they had agreed to do. However, when she'd turned to face him in the backseat, he was already dutifully putting the fake ignition gloves in the pocket of his uniform. She sighed and smiled when he beamed at her from his carseat and kicked his feet excitedly.

Trick or treating was a cake walk. After following Roy around everywhere, this was simple. Her heart skipped a beat every time she thought an adult looked at Aidan a little too closely, like they were picking at the similarities between the three year-old boy and the General she still served under, but no one made any comments. Aidan didn't notice, too wrapped up in the excitement. He and Rebecca's son, Bran, picked at their goods, usually with Rebecca stopping Bran from putting too many in his mouth at once.

"How did you get Aidan to be so well-behaved?" Rebecca asked as she shifted her daughter Ally in her arms, eyeing the two boys as they knocked on a door simultaneously. This was Aidan's first Halloween where he got to knock on the door himself, but he still tended to prefer if Riza went to the door with him and held his hand. Bran was a year older and bolder already, but he used the distance from his mother to stick a piece of chocolate in his mouth more often than not.

Riza laughed. "He has his moments, trust me."

"Cute outfit and you match," Rebecca hummed, pointing out the fact that Riza was wearing her uniform. A Captain guarding her General, as always. "I saw the stars on his shoulder. General, eh?"

"He insisted," Riza replied.

"Meaning he asked something more and you said no, so you caved," Rebecca said.

Sometimes, Riza forgot just how well her best friend knew her. Yes, she had caved, knowing full well that she really shouldn't let Aidan's uniform be that of a General. It said too much when she and Roy were trying to show so little. There was a reason that Aidan picked that specific rank and anyone that knew anything would know it, especially since Aidan looked more and more like Roy with every passing day. But she couldn't tell Aidan no twice. She just couldn't, not when this holiday meant so much to him. She wanted him to feel like he was emulating his father. He deserved that, didn't he?

"He wanted to be the Flame Alchemist," Riza said quietly.

A sad look came over Rebecca's face. "Oh, Riza…"

"I don't think I can keep this under wraps for much longer," Riza sighed, her eyes locked onto Aidan as he scampered back to her. His cheeks were red from the October chill. She wished that the costume had come with the black jacket that Roy was so fond of wearing. She should've thought of that in advance. "It's not… It's not fair to him. We ask so much of him, and he's just a little boy. And I'm tired of hiding, truth be told. It's harder every day."

Rebecca put her free hand on Riza's arm and looked her dead in the eyes. "You know that whatever happens, I've got your back. When things come to light, I'll be here for you."

Riza smiled weakly. "I know, Becca, I've always known that."

"Good." Rebecca nodded her head with a sense of finality before turning her attention to the two boys. A big smile lit up her face, making her look completely different from before. "Did you get a piece for your little sister?"

"Um," Bran mumbled uncomfortably, looking at the sky while he tried to come up with an excuse for most likely eating said piece of candy meant for his sister.

"I did, Aunt Becca," Aidan answered.

Rebecca pat Aidan on the head as he held out a piece of candy for Ally, who grabbed at it greedily, and then sighed as she set Ally down. "I've raised chocolate monsters."

All Riza could do was laugh in response. It made sense - Rebecca's children loving candy so much - considering the ridiculous sweeth tooths that both Rebecca and Havoc possessed. Neither women talked about Riza's concerns about Aidan for the rest of the trip, mostly because Aidan wanted to stay at Riza's side. Ally was too young to run off and wanted to be held anyways while Bran tried to get into everything. By the time they finished making their round through the neighborhood, Aidan was clamoring to be held by Riza and didn't want to go up to doors anymore. She could tell that he was tired of talking with strangers.

When they walked into Rebecca's house, Bran dropped his bag of candy and ran into his dad's arms. Havoc picked up the kid with ease, swinging him around, and then propped him on his side. "So? What do you think?" he asked as he gestured around the room, which was extravagantly covered in Halloween decor.

"Cool!" Bran exclaimed.

"You really outdid yourself this year," Rebecca said as she walked over to her husband and kissed him.

Riza did not feel a stab of jealousy, she swore, but she did look down to focus on Aidan, who was busy nuzzling into her. She tried not to think about what it would be like to come home to the man that she loved, their child in her arms, and be able to kiss him without worrying about anyone seeing them. She often tried not to think about things like that, especially when she was around Rebecca and Havoc. They meant well and they had done so much for her since she found out that she was pregnant, but sometimes, it was difficult to be around them.

"The guys should be here any minute and-" A knock at the door cut Havoc off and he sat Bran down before bounding over there to answer the door. Breda and Fuery spilled inside, already in their costumes, and he gleefully hugged them. Rebecca rolled her eyes, but there was a smile on her face.

"Get in gear, man!" Breda, wearing a full on hot dog costume, laughed.

"I've been busy!" Havoc replied, waving a hand around the room.

"Costume!" Bran shouted, clearly agreeing with Breda. Havoc saluted his son, making the boy giggle, before rushing out of the room so that he could put on his costume. After all, what was Peter Pan without his Captain Hook? Ally, in her green Tinkerbell costume, began to squirm in Rebecca's arms until she put the little girl down. Aidan didn't fight with Riza, preferring to still be held. He needed a little while longer to recharge before joining the party again.

It wasn't long before the house began to fill up. One of the girls from Rebecca's unit showed up with her husband and two kids. As a surprise, Falman came after that with his shy Northern wife and their children, apparently having come down on vacation to visit for the week. A few neighbors came over with their kids. Even Gracia showed up with Elicia, who was the oldest child by far, but very excellent with all the younger kids. While all the other kids followed the older girl into another room, Aidan clung tighter to Riza, refusing to be parted from her.

She knew exactly what he needed.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Riza murmured to her son as all the adults around them chatted with one another. Even if Aidan didn't leave her, she wouldn't mind. Elicia was helping many of the parents have time to themselves and while Riza would enjoy that, she also knew that Aidan had his clingy moments for a reason. Aidan gave her a wary but curious look. She poked at his pocket. "The rest of your costume."

Aidan perked up at that and fiddled with his pocket until he managed to pull out the gloves. She set him down on his feet and watched with the fondest smile as he put on the white gloves and proudly showed them off to her. "Now I'm the Flame Alchemist!"

"Now you're the Flame Alchemist," Riza agreed, her heart panging painfully in her chest even as she smiled at him.

Filled with energy again, Aidan ran around the room, snapping his fingers, which made everyone laugh. Rebecca wore the most understanding look on her face when Riza caught eyes with her. Havoc gasped in shock and awe as Aidan showed off his best snapping, as he still thought that the sound was caused by Roy snapping his fingers, and then explained that the gloves he was wearing weren't really real. Once he was certain that all the important adults had seen him, he ran into the other room quickly to show Bran and the other kids.

"That's going to stop his heart cold, you know," Havoc pointed out when he walked up next to her.

"Aidan is his father's son, no matter what," Riza said, folding her arms across her chest. "I couldn't tell him no, not entirely. He's been so good..."

"He's a good kid," Havoc agreed, "but then he has an incredible mother."

With her son with the other children, Riza tried her best to relax. The people she didn't know here weren't in the military, so she didn't have to worry about them. None of them gave her or Aidan a second look beyond to tell her how adorable he was and that it was so sweet of her to dress up with him even though it was her uniform. She didn't have to talk about work or worry about her fears for a moment. She could just be herself, holding a glass of fruit punch made to look like blood, while she helped Havoc set up a few games for the kids. Their neighborhood had a thing every Halloween where one family threw a party for the kids. Riza was honestly grateful for the invite.

Breda went to gather the kids, swooping back in with a giggling Aidan dangling upside down in his arms as he hooted and hollered, the rest of them on his tail. Riza's heart jumped only once at the sight, but she reigned in the reproachful look when Aidan called out to her. Breda did look a little sheepish when he glanced at her as he set her boy down, only to pick up Bran and do the same with him at his insistence. Aidan tugged at his gloves as he watched Fuery explain the game to the kids, but looked no less attentive, like the act was subconscious. He really was adorable.

So focused on Aidan, Riza didn't even hear the knock at the door or Havoc opening it for the last guest. She was too busy watching her son make sure that his uniform was straight and clean. Only when she heard the most familiar voice declare, "My god, you're downright domestic, Havoc," did Riza jerk up straight and glance out of the corner of her eyes.

There was Roy, having changed out of his uniform. He wasn't in costume, looking plain next to Havoc dressed in an absurd Captain Hook costume, but not all of the adults were. She knew from his schedule that he got off work late to compensate for letting both Riza and Havoc have the day off and the others to leave early. He managed to put on a suit, though it was more casual than his usual getup. Still looked handsome as hell. Somehow, he knew that she was looking at him and he caught eyes with her, a small smile playing at his face. She tried to calm her heart, but it felt like her nerves were rattling now that he was here.

"Happy Halloween, Captain," Roy greeted as he stepped up towards her. "Very original costume. Aren't you supposed to be off duty? I believe someone gave you an off day."

"I still have someone's back to guard," Riza pointed out.

A befuddled look crossed Roy's face at her cryptic answer, but before he could ask another question, Aidan bounded towards her to wrap his arms around her legs and exclaim, "I won a prize!"

Riza didn't need to look over to Roy to know that there was a shocked expression on his face, but she did anyways after congratulating Aidan and sending him back over to the other kids. Roy's eyes were wide, completely bared open, all the shock and joy written on his face for everyone to see. His mouth was parted slightly, like he wanted to say something but couldn't get the words out, and it looked as if he'd stopped breathing completely. All he could do was gawk at Aidan in his Flame Alchemist costume. He was quieter than all the other kids, tugging at his uniform and snapping his fingers as he watched the rest ran around shouting and laughing.

"He's…" Roy gulped down the lump in his throat. "He's _me_." He finally managed to tear his eyes away from his son to look at her. "Did you…?"

"No," Riza answered, shaking her head. "He decided it on his own - told me that kids were dressing up like State Alchemists, so he wanted to be the Flame Alchemist."

Nodding his head, mostly to himself, Roy looked back to Aidan and ran his fingers through his hair, though he stopped short and held his hand there for a moment. It looked like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. It had been a long time since she had seen him so stunned, perhaps not since Aidan's birth. "God, he looks so much like me…"

Riza bit her lip. "I know I shouldn't have… It wasn't smart of me, all things considered, but I-"

"No, no, I'm...I'm glad - I'm more than glad," Roy interrupted her. Laughter tumbled out of him, uncontrolled and a tinge manic. His hand dropped to his side as a lopsided smile split onto his face, the same exact one that Aidan was currently wearing. "You know I dreamed about this, but I never thought… I didn't think he liked me enough."

"Please," Riza huffed, "he _adores_ you."

Roy gave her a somewhat disbelieving look, but it was true. As difficult as it was for Aidan sometimes, he never once acted angry at Roy for not being there. He got upset every now and then, but he always went quiet instead. He would cling to Riza almost all the time, but she knew that he was disappointed whenever he woke up in the middle of the night and Roy wasn't there. The times when Roy could be there with him meant so much to all of them. She didn't know how she'd gotten so lucky with her son.

"Can I…?" Roy stopped himself, hesitant, and looked back at her. Riza nodded her head once.

A giddy expression came over Roy's face before he schooled it and walked towards the kids. He focused on a few of the other kids first - picking up Bran and flying him around just like Peter Pan, tickling Ally's belly, commenting on Elicia's witch costume and exclaiming that she was growing into a beautiful, young lady - but it was easy to tell where Roy's true focus lied. He was jittery, filled with nervous energy, and his eyes would dart to the quiet, little boy in his military uniform playing with his toy prize from earlier.

Finally, when Roy reached Aidan, he bent down to his level, his expression composed as much as he could. Honestly, he held himself together better when he was confronting King Bradley back in the day. How was it that an innocent three year-old kid got his fingers twitching nervously.

"Good evening, sir," Roy said, saluting the little boy.

Aidan straightened up, mimicking Riza like he sometimes did when she took him to HQ with her, and saluted back. It was even with the proper hand. It took Edward at least a month to remember that before deciding that he didn't care. "Hello, General." It didn't hurt, Aidan calling his own father that, Riza told herself, because he was acting in character. It didn't hurt.

"That's a sharp-looking uniform," Roy said. "Clean and crisp as your mother's."

"A clean uniform means that you're a good soldier," Aidan informed him. Riza almost laughed. She had to have had the cleanest three year-old boy in all of Amestris. Sure he liked to play in the mud with Bran, but then he'd make sure not to track any mud inside and would take a bath without complaint.

"That's very true," Roy replied. He looked over Aidan, like he didn't know what to say or if there was anything he could say. Aidan looked back at him expectantly without saying a word, as if knowing that Roy needed time. "But you're not just any General, are you?"

"No, I'm" - Aidan held up a gloved hand, the red stitching facing forward, and snapped his finger - "the Flame Alchemist!"

In that moment, Roy flicked his own fingers as well, having put on one of his ignition gloves that he always carried with him just in case, and a tiny burst of flame shot out in between them, nothing overt or dangerous. Just enough where it glowed in Aidan's eyes for a moment and he laughed in delight. Roy grinned and pocketed his hand, most likely because he was afraid that he'd reach out to smooth Aidan's hair or pull him into a hug.

Aidan bit his lip, shuffling his feet, and peered at Roy. "You're not mad?"

Of course he would be afraid of that. Because they were breaking the carefully made rules that Riza had set up. In Aidan's mind, Roy could only be his dad at home or at his home. Rebecca and Havoc's house was like a second home to his, but he didn't know if it that counted or not.

"No, Aidan," Roy told him gently, his face a mixture of pride and sadness, "I'm not mad. I'm very happy."

"Mom's happy too, I think," Aidan replied, because of course he would be concerned with that.

"Are you happy?" Roy asked.

Aidan nodded his head. "I get to be you."

That was all that mattered to him - that he got to be the man he admired for Halloween and his mom was happy. He liked the candy, playing games, and being with his friends, but at the end of the day, the real treat was getting to do something that other kids got to do. They got to act like their parents. Aidan didn't always get to do things that other boys got to do with their fathers, so to do this one thing, even if it was wearing just a simple pair of cheap gloves, made him incredibly happy.

And that, really, was all that mattered to Riza and Roy at the end of the day.


End file.
